3 Thing the Golden Knights Need to End Sharks Season on Easter

The Golden Knights lead the Shark 3-2 heading into their Easter Sunday Game six match up. The game starts a 4pm PST and can be seen locally on AT&T Sportsnet or NBC Sports if you are out of market.

The Golden Knights looked to bounce back after a disappointing Game 5 performance against rival San Jose Sharks. Vegas has the opportunity to close out the series at home while the Sharks hope to push the series to a Game 7.

Marc-Andre Fleury and His Defensemen 

Fleury needs to get hot. Marc-Andre Fleury has been the heart and soul of this team in its short existence. While he has played well enough against the Sharks, for most of the series he hasn’t looked himself.

There was hope from the San Jose media that the mysterious in lower body injury that made miss a chunk of the end of the regular season, could be what the Sharks need to get by the Knights.

Fleury might be injured but it’s the NHL playoffs and everyone dealing with aches. The defense around him has to help. Giving Colin Miller more time on ice since Nick Holden’s poor performance in Game 1 has helped, with Miller even helping with two power play assists in the game five loss to the Sharks.

Game four was Fleury’s best game because he faced on 28 shots with defense slowing down a Sharks team that was trying to catch up from the first minute. That’s the kind of play the Knights need tonight and that happens by being physical, the Knights also had 54 hits in Game 4 compared to a paltry 22 in Game 5.

The Hot Line Has to Show Up

With Marc-Andre Fleury only playing well enough, the Golden Knights needed something to spark the team. The spark came with the play the Pacioretty – Stastny – Stone line. Through the first four games against the Sharks that line had 28 points including a Mark Stone hat trick in Game 2.

It doesn’t take a math prodigy to count 0 points for that line in Game 5. If Fleury isn’t himself yet the best chance the Knights have for that spark is the group of misfits that have played so well together since Mark Stone joined the team at the trade deadline.

Remind Martin Jones Who he is Playing Against

In the two years of the Golden Knights existence Martin Jones has averaged more than three goals against coming into the playoffs versus Vegas and has had to been pulled four times in those matchups.

In this series the Knights were able to get goals passed him in the opening minutes of the period twice and few other early period goals. In this series he has had to be pulled twice to be replaced by Aaron Dell.

Something clicked for Martin Jones in Game 5. He had thirty saves, and not all saves are equal, many of those thirty stops were great scoring chances for the Knights. The only goals he let in were short-handed power play goals. It looked like someone convinced him he was playing the Kings not the Golden Knights who are supposedly in Martin Jones’ head.

Martin Jones playing poorly isn’t something the Golden Knights can count on, but it is something they should play towards with an immediate presence in front of Jones and as many early shots as possible to keep him from getting any kind of rhythm.

What are your takeaways from the series so far? What do the Knights need to do to knock their rivals the San Jose Sharks from the post-season?